


Heartbeat and Memories in a Bottle

by karenninaaa



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: F/M, Fix-It, Gen, Iron Family, Iron dad and Spider son, Pepperony - Freeform, Post-Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Stark Family, because i refused to accept the canon, the happy ending we deserve, this is going to be my therapy fic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-02
Updated: 2019-06-16
Packaged: 2020-02-16 01:57:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 18,729
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18681793
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/karenninaaa/pseuds/karenninaaa
Summary: They tried to live in a world without him. Until one day, they started to see a glimpse of a man they thought was already dead.ENDGAME SPOILERS





	1. He is everywhere

**Author's Note:**

> YO!! THIS IS AN EMERGENCY FIC I HAD TO WHIP OUT BECAUSE WTF HAPPENED ON ENDGAME? I think the majority of us was trying to live in an alternate reality where the last five to ten minutes of endgame didn't happen at all. This is my civic duty to help my fellow fandom to cope and also for my own self-satisfaction. I need my happy ending.
> 
> Unbeta-ed chapter.

Peter Parker decided that it was easier to pretend rather than to live in the moment.  It was easier to go through the halls of his school and just smile at everyone who greeted him. It was easier to give Aunt May a kiss on the cheek and ask her how her day went before she could ask the same thing to him. And if she did ask, there were always the pre-made answers he could choose from. Ranging from, _it’s good_ –his most common answer. So sometimes he had to switch up to, _I had a great day_ , _our teachers were giving us lots of homework and project_ , _I am fine, just tired_ –that was one of his favorites if he didn’t want to talk at all, especially if a particular day had been so overwhelming.

Because, sometimes, when Peter would look around him and see how everything looked so normal and everyone was at peace, at last, that was when he was going to notice the void in him. Then there was the worst part. The worst part was he had to go out of the streets and see someone’s face everywhere.

Tony Stark was everywhere.

For months, the tributes for him were flooding, from social media to the news, from the Iron Man statues in some places to his pictures plastered left and right celebrating his name, remembering his heroic deed to save the universe.

And sometimes, remembering hurt. The void in him, probably bigger than his entire being, ached so badly and it overwhelmed him. It had been six months since Tony saved the universe but for Peter, he was always stuck in the time where he witnessed how Iron Man’s arc reactor flickered and shut off.

_Mr. Stark, we won. . ._

_I’m sorry._

“Mr. Parker! Are you still with us?”

Peter looked up, a little bit startled. Ms. Brandt, his history teacher was looking at him with a stern expression. He glanced around to see that his classmates were looking back at him.

He sat up straighter. “Y-yeah, I am. . .”

“Then can you answer my question?”

“W-what was the question again?”

The class erupted in laughter. Then the bell rang before Ms. Brandt could silence them.

Instead, Ms. Brandt sighed in resignation. “Alright, class dismissed. We’ll continue the lesson next meeting. And Parker, would you stay for a sec?”

Peter froze as the students around him shuffled and one by one left the room. He remained seated, slightly dreading what was about to happen. Was he going to get detention now because he wasn’t listening to the class? Well, admittedly, there were several occasions that he zoned out on Ms. Brandt’s class. It was just that Ms. Brandt had a habit of correlating the past events with the present and there were a lot of things in the present that he didn’t want to hear or trying to avoid hearing. Peter’s brain must have subconsciously blocked it as a defense mechanism.

“Mr. Parker.” Ms. Brandt called when it was just the two of them in the room. She sat on the table in the front.

Peter exhaled and stood up. He slung his backpack on his shoulder and made his way to Ms. Brandt.

“Am I in trouble?” Peter asked when he reached her. “Is there something wrong?”

Ms. Brandt clasped her hands together on the table and gazed up at him. “I think I should be the one asking that question, Mr. Parker. Is there something wrong? Don’t think I haven’t noticed how your head was always somewhere far away when you’re in my class.” She paused. “You know, with the recent happenings, I am hyperaware on how some students are still traumatized-”

“I am good. Ms. Brandt.” The answer came faster than Peter would have expected it. His tongue and his brain knew what to do when things like that popped out.

Ms. Brandt just looked at him in sympathy that Peter had to look away. It made him sick. People who knew what he had lost always looked that way at him. Though, Ms. Brandt wasn’t aware of any of that.

“Peter, teaching was my job and it was also my job to help my students. We have counseling-”

“I swear Ms. Brandt, I’m okay.” Peter glanced back and looked at her steadily in the eyes, just to prove how okay and calm he was. He clasped his hands behind his back to avoid fidgeting. He tried to hide the restlessness in his eyes. Though, there were dark circles underneath it. He swallowed down the lump in his throat so he wouldn’t stutter and his voice wouldn’t break. He learned that a still composure always did the trick on adults when they were trying to dissect him on the spot.

Ms. Brandt stared at him some more before she relented. “Alright, Mr. Parker, but next time I see you not paying attention in my class, you’ll go straight to the detention. I just wanted you to know that you’re not the first student I’ve talked about this and it’s okay not to be okay and to tell someone about it. We were all not okay at some point and talking it out usually helps. That’s all, you may go, Mr. Parker.”

“Yeah, I appreciate your concern, Ms. Brandt. Thank you.” Peter turned around and walked out of the classroom.

An empty and silent hallway greeted him. Some students must have gone to their classes. It was his lunch break so Ned must be in the cafeteria waiting for him. As he made his way through the corridor and to the cafeteria, he thought about what Ms. Brandt had said. He didn’t agree with some of her points. Talking it out didn’t always help. He tried before. He tried talking it out with Aunt May. But all it did was worry her to no end and after all that she had been through, he couldn’t give her another burden to carry on her shoulder. He tried to do the same with Pepper. Though, it was an unintentional breakdown when everything felt so heavy suddenly and Pepper’s voice was just so soft and comforting and he let his walls break down. Pepper was also worried. With all the things that she had in mind, worrying over him who wasn’t even blood related was maybe too much.

Even then, even when he talked about the emptiness and the loneliness, it didn’t help at all. All those ugly feelings did not lessen. Instead, it had gotten heavier each day. Nothing in him felt better.

Nothing would help him feel better because no one could be able to bring Mr. Stark back. No one and nothing.

Peter faltered in his steps as his vision got blurry. Then their tears were falling from his eyes like waterfalls. He tried to stop it really, but the more he did, the more those damn tears wouldn’t stop falling. His shoulder shook as a soft sob escaped his lips.

And it hurt all over again.

_Please, Mr. Stark, just come back._

_I can’t handle the pain anymore._

_How do I make the pain to stop?_

_I am so so so tired._

His phone in his jeans’ pocket vibrated, startling him. He immediately wiped his face and fished out his phone from his pocket. Pepper was video-calling him. He frowned. She knew that he had school. He immediately answered it.

Instead of Pepper, Morgan’s face appeared on the screen. Her ever-cheerful voice resonated in the silent hallway. “Hi, Petey!!”

“H-hi, Mo,” He tried to match her enthusiastic voice. “W-what’s up, why are you calling, something’s wrong?”

Morgan hummed as she shook her head. “I am in Mommy’s office. Mommy had a meeting and I was with Uncle Happy but he was outside to take some calls. I got bored and I saw Mommy’s phone on her desk so I called you.”

Peter couldn’t help but smile at her adorableness. “So Pepper took you to her work huh?”

She hummed again this time in agreement. “She said that we’re going to get ice cream after her work. I’m excited.” She giggled.

“Aww, I am jealous. I wish I could get ice cream with you too.”

Her face suddenly lit up as if she remembered something. Her voice was rushed and excited. She moved her face closer to the screen and whispered. “Petey, Petey, do you want to know a secret?”

“What secret?”

“Mommy and I are going to New York to visit you!”

His smile got even wider. “Really, you’re going here?”

She bobbed her head up and down. Then she frowned. “But Mommy said it was a surprise. That was why it was a secret. Will you still be surprised if you see us there?”

Peter threw his head back in laughter.

“Morgan?”

“Oopsie.” Then the screen went black though the call was still connected and Peter could still hear voices from their line.

“Who are you talking to?” It was Happy’s voice. His voice was gentle and curious, far from the grumpy Happy that Peter used to hear before. He was surely wrapped around her little finger.

“Uhmmm, Petey?”

“Come on, give me that phone. Peter has school so he shouldn’t be bothered. He needs to study first.” Happy said.

Then the screen revealed Happy’s face. “Hey, squirt.”

“What’s up, Happy?”

“Are you in class?”

“No, it was lunchtime so it’s okay,” Peter assured them.

Happy nodded and looked at his side. He appeared to be crouching down as Morgan was sitting to a chair beside him. “Morgie, say bye to Peter.”

“Bye, Petey! See you soon.” She gave him a flying kiss.

“Bye squirt.”

Then the call ended.

Peter let out another breath. Maybe Tony was listening somewhere and heard his pleas so he sent a little angel to make him a little bit better. Well, it was effective.

 He resumed walking down to the cafeteria.

Nothing had changed much on Peter’s routine after his class. He still did patrols but there wasn’t much activity during his patrols. Sure, there were still petty criminals but they were mostly easy to catch. He guessed that even some of the bad guys were still reeling from the recent events.

He stopped by the pedestrian lane waiting for the traffic light to turn red so he could walk towards the other side of the street. He was going to change into his Spider-Man suit and start his patrol. He stood there waiting as he shoved his hands in the front pockets of his hoodie. He had his earphones in. His head was bobbing up and down with the music. His eyes were wandering around idly.

That’s when his eyes locked on someone on the other side of the street.

He paled.

He couldn’t breathe.

He was seeing a ghost.

On the other side of the street, Peter was looking at Tony Stark.

_No, no, no, it wasn’t him, right?_

The man was wearing a cap and shabby clothes: navy blue plaids and red vest partnered with jeans. Not the usual type of clothes that someone like Tony would wear. Sure.  His face couldn’t be seen clearly because of his cap. He was looking around as if he was trying to figure something out from the towering buildings and the never-ending crowd and chaotic streets of Queens.

Maybe, it was his heightened vision. Maybe it was because Peter wouldn’t be able to forget Tony’s face ever. Maybe because he was hallucinating and his grief was making him see Tony everywhere. Maybe it was the lack of sleep that was why his eyes were playing tricks on him. Maybe it was his desperation just to see Tony again because he sorely missed him. All the maybes and logical reasoning were screaming at him but they weren’t enough to outweigh the urgency to know.

The traffic light turned red. People crossed the pedestrian. Peter ran.

He tried to dodge people left and right as he got caught in between the mob of people.

“Mr. Stark!” He tried to shout but his voice was caught in his throat. His chest was suddenly constricting.

Peter could see a glimpse of him in between the bodies that were trying to push him in a different direction. Before Peter could get a proper look on his face and before he could reach the other end of the pedestrian, the man turned and started walking away.

“No,” Peter gritted out. “Excuse me, please. Mr. Stark!”

Peter reached the sidewalk. But the man was gone. He craned his neck looking around wildly as he tried to retrace the steps that the man had probably gone through.

But the man was nowhere to be found.

As if he didn’t exist just a minute ago.

 And Peter’s short-lived hope ended right there.

But if there was one thing that wouldn’t end, it was the tears and the ache. They would haunt Peter as long as he lived.

And boy, Peter was tired of going through the torturous cycle all over again.

 


	2. He is with you

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've only re-read this once or twice so sorry for the errors. I was just too tired to fix anything all over again. maybe i'm going to get back on this later after taking a nap. lols.
> 
> Unbeta-ed chapter.
> 
> Enjoy!

Pepper Potts-Stark had known how to be strong way before meeting Tony Stark and even more so upon meeting him. She quickly realized that the man needed someone who could waltz in his workshop or office and call out his BS every other day and at the same time, someone who would be there to support his life choices.

Because of said life choices, her strength had been put to test a lot of times. There were times that she was so close on her limit and so close on walking out on him and calling it a day but she held in because she knew that he had no one but her and she was the same with him.

Then things happened, bad things happened and Pepper could no longer keep up with his life anymore so she walked out. And maybe that’s when they both realized the weight they had on each other’s lives. She didn’t know who caved in first. All she remembered was they met half-way when she was about to go to his penthouse and he was about to go to her apartment. They had the same thoughts in their heads, how time was different when they didn’t have each other to lean on, how things were rougher without one’s company to make things bearable. Since then, they had promised each other to rebuild and start all over again.

Yes, maybe Pepper Potts-Stark was strong and brave but it didn’t mean that she wouldn’t stop needing him just to be right there with her.

The night on the lake house was always quiet and tranquil. Tony liked it best and she couldn’t help but agree with him. For the past five years, there were times that they would forget the cruelty of the real world and would get lost in their little space bubble where happiness was still possible. That was why after all that had happened with her family, Pepper decided to stay in that house. Because that house carried the memories of the happiest five years of her life, even if occasionally it hurt to look at every nook and realized that he was not there and he wouldn’t be there anymore.

She was on the couch with paper works laid on the coffee table. She was frequently appearing at Stark Industries lately. Before, by Tony’s insistence, she was working at home. Happy was the one who would bring in the files she needed to oversee and work on. But now, no one would insist her to say and going out would probably do her some good or she would go insane staring at the walls. Traveling back and forth was a bit troublesome because of the location of their house. Often times Morgan would go with her. She thought that it was due time for Morgan to go out and see the world. The world his dad worked very hard to fix and repair.

She was holding two papers and cross-referencing it when on her peripheral vision; she saw movements on the stairs. She looked up. Morgan was standing at the bottom of the stairs looking at her.

“And why are you still up, little miss? It’s late.” She put down the papers on the table and beckoned her daughter to come to her. Morgan immediately obliged.

“I had a dream,” Morgan answered. She climbed on her Mommy’s lap and hugged her. Her little chubby cheek was on Pepper’s chest.

“What dream?” Pepper asked as she wrapped her slender arms around her daughter. She looked down at her.

“Daddy was on my bed and wouldn’t stop saying he loved me three-thousand,” Morgan answered playing on the loose thread on Pepper’s collar. “Then I woke up and he wasn’t there.”

“Oh, baby.” Pepper tightened her hug on her. She rested her cheek against the crown of Morgan’s head as she tightly closed her eyes.

“Mommy, is Daddy really not gonna come back?” Morgan looked up at her with big brown doe eyes that mirrored Tony’s eyes when he was smiling and his eyes were shining at her.

Pepper swallowed. Trying her best so her face wouldn’t contort in a way that would make her cry right there. She mustered the courage to tell her the most painful truth of all. “I am so sorry baby, but daddy’s not gonna come home anymore. But you know, daddy will always and always be with you. Remember that, okay? He loved you so so much. You are his light.” She held her daughter closer and rocked back and forth to soothe her, or maybe the two of them.

“I miss him, mommy.”

“Me too, baby, me too.”

* * *

“Mommy, I want cheeseburgers. I’m hungry.”

Her Mommy looked up. Pepper was standing behind her desk in her office at Stark industries one afternoon. Morgan was kneeling on the chair and her elbows folded on the desk. They had flown to Manhattan, New York because Mommy had some meeting to attend there. Later, they would see May and Peter which she was so excited about.

Pepper sighed. “Baby, you just ate cheeseburger the other day. It’s a little bit unhealthy to-”

“But cheeseburgers are awesome,” Morgan mumbled looking at her mommy with puppy brown eyes and her lower lip jutting out. She could always get away with that expression with her daddy. Mommy was always stern about things but it didn’t hurt to pull out her winning card expression once in a while.

“Don’t look at me like that.” Pepper playfully narrowed her eyes on Morgan.

“I love you three thousand, Mommy,” Morgan beamed at her.

Her mommy laughed. That meant Morgan already won and she was going to get cheeseburgers. She triumphantly hopped down the chair.

“Where did you learn to charm your way out of a conversation, young miss?”Pepper mused out loud. She glanced at Happy through the glass door. Happy immediately understood that he was needed so came in.

“Let me guess, cheeseburgers?” Happy asked standing by the door.

“Yep,” Pepper said. Morgan was excitedly bouncing on her heels. She made her way to Happy. She automatically held her Uncle Happy’s hand.

“Be careful, sweetie and I love you three-thousand,” Pepper called out.

Morgan blew her mommy a kiss. That made her mommy laughed even more. She loved seeing her mommy laughed, always.

Morgan loved to go places. So she didn’t mind tagging along with her mommy when she was going to work. It could get tiring most of the time but she loved exploring territories that were new to her eyes. She hadn’t been in a lot of places but New York was already her favorite, mostly because New York loved his dad. She could easily spot his face anywhere and she liked looking at his smiling face very much.

She did understand that her daddy did something great that was why people were celebrating everywhere. Though it toned down lately and the people weren’t as enthusiastic as before and Burger King stopped producing plastic cups with Iron Man’s picture on it.

She also did understand that because his daddy did something great, it meant that he couldn’t go home anymore. She missed her daddy a lot and she wished that daddy would come back.

Morgan was sitting on one of the tables of Burger King. Her feet covered in black ankle boots were dangling over and swinging back and forth. Meanwhile, Uncle Happy was standing in the long queue by the counter to order their food. She sat by the window so she was watching the street went by. She was picking on her red tutu dress as she watched a man and a cop argued over something across the sidewalk. She watched the lady walked by holding a phone against her ear giggling, probably over something she had heard over the phone. There were just a lot of things that Morgan was fascinated about outside the fences she had grown up in. She wouldn’t get tired of discovering every single one of them.

Then a man stopped by the edge of the sidewalk just right outside the Burger King. Morgan watched his back curiously. He seemed to be lost.

Then the man turned and Morgan had a glimpse of his face.

She gasped.

“Daddy. . .” She whispered in awe.

The man was wearing a cap but Morgan couldn’t be mistaken, especially when he turned and glanced inside the Burger King. Though, he didn’t look in her direction.

“Daddy. .” She breathed. She looked back at the counter nearby. Uncle Happy was now on the counter as the lady behind the cash register was taking his orders.

She gazed back at the window. The man was walking away. Her daddy was walking out of her sight and he didn’t even see her. Where was he going? She was waiting for him for a long time and Mommy was sad most of the time because he wasn’t there. Although Mommy had tried to hide her sadness away when she was around. Maybe, he couldn’t find his way home that was why he appeared to be lost? She needed to bring him back so Mommy wouldn’t be so sad anymore.

Without hesitation, Morgan jumped from her seat and headed out of Burger King. She followed the direction his dad had gone to. She ran.

Fortunately for her, the man hadn’t gone that far as she caught sight of his back again.

“Daddy!” She shouted.

She ran faster.

Finally, she caught up with him before the man could cross the street.

She held his hand stopping him. “Daddy!”

The man was obviously startled as he looked down at her. Her face lit up.

“I knew you’d come back!” She said giddily as she tackled him in a hug. She could feel how he had stiffened as she wrapped her tiny arms around his torso. “I always knew you’d come back, daddy! I missed you so much. Mommy missed you so much too.”

 The man was silent not even returning her hug. Morgan pulled away as he gazed up at her dad. The man was staring back at her with wide eyes.

“D-daddy?” she frowned, more confused about his reaction.

“Eddie!”

The man turned in the direction of the voice. An older man was approaching them. He had a thinning white hair and wrinkles were prominent around his face. He had a stout body and a rigid expression. He visibly stiffened upon seeing Morgan.

“H-his name is not Eddie, he is my daddy.” Morgan insisted on the new-comer. She was starting to get upset by the whole thing. There were a lot of things that confused her. Why her daddy didn’t seem so enthusiastic about seeing her? He would have the brightest smile and he would always pick her up when he would see her coming to him.

The new-comer seemed to ignore her as he tugged on his daddy. Though, his daddy seemed to remain rooted in his spot and his eyes never leaving hers.

New-comer whispered urgently to him. “Come on, Ed! We should go. We’re starting to get attention. It’s not yet time. . .”

“W-where are you taking him?”

“Morgan!”

She turned her head. Not from afar, Happy came into view running towards her. She looked back at the other man. “That’s Uncle Happy! Just you wait, he’ll prove that he was my daddy and you’re mistaken!” She ran to meet Happy.

“Morgan, why did you run off-?”

“Quick, Uncle Happy!” She tugged Happy’s hand and pulled him in one direction. “A man had mistaken daddy as someone else. You need to prove that it was a daddy so he wouldn’t take him away!”

“W-what?”

“Come on!” She tugged harder until they reached the intersection where she left the two men. She looked around. But her heart sank when she realized that they already had left.

“Morgan!” Happy held both of her shoulders and turned her around to look at him. He crouched down so he was eye-level with her. “Can you please explain what’s going on? You can’t just run off like that.”

“I-I saw daddy. . .” Morgan’s lips started to tremble. She didn’t understand why her daddy would leave just like that.

Happy stiffened.

“B-but the other man was calling him with some different name.”

“M-maybe, it wasn’t really your daddy.” Happy said softly to her.

“No! It was really him!” Morgan started to cry as she wrapped her arms around his neck and sobbed on his neck. “He is really my daddy uncle. I swear!”

“Sssh, it’s okay, Mo. It’s okay.” Happy rubbed her back consoling her.

* * *

Later that night, Happy had laid sleeping Morgan on her bed back in the penthouse where they were temporarily staying. Pepper was standing beside the bed watching her daughter sleep. Happy told her what had happened earlier. She couldn’t really ask Morgan about it since her daughter was already asleep in his arms when Happy had broken the news to her.

“She was so adamant that she had seen Tony.” Happy said in a low voice. His voice cracked at the end trying but failing to hide the pain. Happy was many things and showing vulnerability wasn’t one of them. Pepper was aware of the things that Happy had gone through but never did he expose what he truly felt, not until now.

Pepper exhaled, briefly closing her eyes and pinching the bridge of her nose. Then she opened her eyes looking at him. “S-should I... Should I get a therapy appointment for Morgan now? Is this how she copes with losing her dad? Pointing at random strangers and calling them a dad? I know she doesn’t fully understand what’s going on but maybe there was more than she was letting on. She has his father’s intelligence after all.”

“Might as well, Pepper.” Happy glanced at her sympathetically.

“I’ll think about it.” She smiled tiredly at him. “Thank you, Hap.”

Happy walked towards her and patted her shoulder comfortingly. “Just hang in there Pepper. It’s hard for all of us but all of these will pass soon. Good night. Just call me if something happens.”

“Yeah, Good night.”

With that Happy left their penthouse as she heard the door clicked shut outside.

She sat down on the bed and watched her daughter slept so peacefully. She wondered if Morgan was dreaming about Tony again. She was relieved though, that her daughter was only dreaming about the happy once with Tony. Morgan was too young and she didn’t want her to experience the extreme degree of heartbreak when you lost someone so dear to you. As much as possible, Pepper wanted Morgan to relieve only the good memories with her dad when she grew up.

“I love you, sweetie,” Pepper kissed her daughter’s forehead. She continued to whisper. “And if by chance that you see Daddy in dreamland please do tell him Mommy loves him so much.”

 With that, she tucked her in. She left the room.

Pepper knew that she wouldn’t get any sleep sooner. So she settled in on the bed with her back against the headboard. She wore her favorite comfortable clothes, pajamas and one of Tony’s old shirt. She was holding a tablet and laid it on her lap. She planned on working on some of SI files until, well, if sleepiness ever had a plan to visit her. She tapped on the screen as it cast a bluish glow on her face. She was about to open up a folder she wanted to work on when an idea hit her. Instead, she navigated through a different set of files and opened up a folder with a filename of _Everything about Morgoona._ She smiled a bit at that. It was Tony’s doing. He unashamedly loved recording everything about his daughter and compiled it in one folder. She picked a certain mp4 file, her favorite, _Morgan’s first word_.

Pepper watched Tony’s face appeared on the screen first. He was grinning as the video went wide. Beside him, was a nine-month-old Morgan sitting on a small baby chair. She remembered recording that video. It was a nice morning and they had decided to have breakfast by the lake. They spread a blanket on the grass and sat on it. Varieties of breakfast food were laid on the blanket.

Tony was trying to feed Morgan mashed potatoes as he held a little pink plastic spoon in one hand.

“Morgan is a good girl, isn’t she? And she’s going to eat potatoes because it is yum yum!” Tony said playfully at Morgan who answered back in her most enthusiastic gibberish voice as she drooled. He wiped the drool on her chin with the pink bib wrapped around her neck.

“Here goes the potato airplane.” Tony imitated a noise of an airplane as he raised the spoon in the air. Morgan clapped her hands enthusiastically.

Pepper’s laughter could be heard in the background as the spoon reached Morgan’s lips. Morgan was frowning as she tried to chew the food as if trying to figure out if the food was delicious based on her own standards.

“Delicious, isn’t it?” Tony said to her. Morgan continued to chew the food with her little growing teeth. “Yes, because Mommy made it and her cooking is great. Daddy can’t cook to save his life so I am on feeding duties.”

Pepper smiled as she continued to watch.

“Mommy is the best, isn’t she?” Tony continued to feed her. Morgan’s interest shifted on the rubber penguin toy attached to the table of her chair. She squeezed the toy and the toy produced a squealing sound. That made Morgan happier.

“You happy with that, huh?” Tony mused at her putting the spoon down. He watched her mutilated the toy just to hear the sound she liked very much.

“I am so glad that I listened to mommy and bought that chair,” Tony told her. “Who’s the best again? Say, Mama.”

“Da-da!”

There was a moment of silence.

Pepper’s voice, so close to shrieking sliced through the silence. “Oh my god!” The video shook. Meanwhile, Tony just froze in his spot. His eyes were wide looking at Morgan.

“What did you just say?” Tony asked Morgan.

“Da-da!” Morgan banged the table with her small hands and squeaked in laughter.

“It was his first word, Tony!”

“Holy mother of potatoes!” Tony picked up Morgan from her chair. He looked behind the camera. “Hey, Pep, not to brag but you are a witness on how Morgan decided that I was the best. Right, Mo?” He nuzzled his nose with her nose. Morgan scrunched up her face when his goatee tickled her. She pushed Tony’s face away with her small chubby hands. He laughed.

“Someone’s gonna grow up and be a daddy’s girl, huh?” Pepper noted.

“Damn right it is.”

“Tony!”

“Mo, don’t say that okay? You’re not allowed to say that. Instead, say da-da again.”

“Da-da, Da-da, da-da!”

Tony guffawed in laughter. Morgan continued to drool.

“She’s a smart girl,” Tony said in between his laughter.

The video ended with Tony’s wide smile on the screen. Droplets of tears spattered the screen as she silently stared down at his husband’s bright face. And then Pepper couldn’t hold it anymore as she started to sob.  She covered her face with her hands. She remembered the bliss in that video. She remembered how that morning was so perfect and nothing else mattered. There were just the three of them building a family that Tony had dreamt of once.

And then the bliss ended. The worst thing happened. Something Pepper feared over the years. She remembered watching Tony from the porch with Morgan standing beside her. They both watched as Tony slid into the car heading to the Avengers Compound. From then on, they knew that things were going to change.

There would be no do-over. There would be no reconciliations and no amount of sorry’s would make the things go back the way they were before.

And Tony wouldn’t be there to meet her half-way when she needed him the most.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For the record, I don't know how 5-year-old kid normally acts their age but hey let's all just collectively agreed that Morgan was really smart. :D
> 
> Thank you for reading!


	3. He's within your reach

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i know i know i update too slow. long story short i got sick and i did my best to finish this chapter this weekend. it's quite long to make up for the slow updates. i think i should have said this before but the first five chapters are not in chronological order, they're sort of non linear. i dont usually like putting time or date stamps when i write non linear. hopefully, it's not going to be that confusing. hit me up on the comments section if you have clarifications or you just want to yell at me for updating too slow or just want to talk. that's all.
> 
> also, unbeta-ed chapter.
> 
> nonetheless, enjoy!

Harley Keener was so sick of attending funerals. Not that he had been in too many but the thing was he was so sick and tired of mourning. For the last five years, everybody around him mourned for the Vanished. There were more questions than actual grief in the beginning, and then when the people who were left behind realized that their loved ones who turned to ash weren’t coming back, that was when the sorrow kicked in and hit them in full wave.

Of course, Harley knew what it had felt like. He had just watched his family turned to ash and he was left staring on the spot they had left behind, wondering where they did go and why they had left him all alone.

The part where he panicked and called everyone he knew was a bit blurry. No one was answering. He practically called everyone on his contact list including Tony Stark. But then, he paused mid-dialing when he realized that he was just watching the news seconds ago about Tony Stark’s disappearance when another attack in New York had happened.

Just like that, he felt the overwhelming helplessness spreading throughout his veins. He was left staring at the walls rocking himself back and forth as he sat on the cold cemented floor. He didn’t know what to think. He didn’t know what to do. He lost track of time on how long he had been in that position. It could have been years and he wouldn’t have cared. He didn’t want to move. There was something scary about moving and not being able to retrace his movements back because he could also disappear any second.

He didn’t want to move.

Until he received a call from his aunt living in New York.

Until Tony Stark had come home.

 

 

“I thought you’d never leave your mansion behind,” Harley smirked at the man approaching him.

“Call it a change of lifestyle.” Tony Stark smiled at him when he reached him.

Tony had called Harley immediately upon coming back to Earth to check up on him. Harley was staying at his aunt in New York and whose family also vanished. Now, there were just the two of them trying to make sense of the world they were living in. Then Tony called him. They could practically hear the relief in their voices from the hellos and how are you kid over the phone. One of them had made it back and one of them had survived. The thought of it was small comfort in the midst of chaos and confusion.

Tony had invited him to come over to his new house. Harley thought that the place was something out of a children’s book. The two-story modern log house was surrounded by trees. There was a lake nearby. It was still early morning so the fog hung over them like clouds within their reach. There was something refreshing from the smell of grass and earth.

“I am so sorry about your family.” Tony enveloped him in a hug.

Harley just stilled with his arms remaining on his side. He leaned the side of his head on Tony’s shoulder. Harley had gotten taller over the past years. They were practically the same height. Though, being with Tony always felt like he was still a kid who point blank aimed his potato gun at him a long time ago. Ever since then, Tony became like some sort of father figure/parental figure/guardian from far away whom he could always count on. He was not always physically there but he just knew that Tony was always one call away.

Like right now.

They stayed like that for a moment. No words had been spoken out loud. After all, nothing much could be talked about when what remained within them was their sorrowful hearts. So they decided to remain silent and chose to enjoy the little serenity that the place had offered.

“Come,” Tony pulled away and put his arm around Harley’s shoulder. “Look at my new interior decorating. I’ve been doing a lot of that lately because Pepper was always moody. The first trimester of pregnancy does that, I think.”

“Are you sure there’s no wolf that’s gonna come out of that house?” Harley asked as they walked towards the front porch.

“Trust me, kid, the only one who’s probably gonna growl at you is Pepper.”

Harley snorted a laugh.

“Just kidding. She’s asleep so we’re safe.”

Harley laughed even more.

To be honest, Harley hadn’t laughed in what felt like forever. It felt somewhat nice, though he knew that the little bliss was temporary.

After touring the house, they went for the back door and headed for the lake. They sat next to each other on the grass by the edge of the lake. They got lost staring at the glistening surface of the lake.

“I always knew you’d come back.” Harley began as he pulled out some grass and played with it.

“Why, cause we’re connected?” Tony raised an eyebrow at him.

“Yeah, something liked that.” He smiled.

A minute of silence had passed over them before Harley spoke again. He looked cautiously at Tony. “Can...Can you talk about what happened about where you had come from or you’re not okay talking about that . . . ?”

“It’s alright,” Tony said. “You know, I’ve been taking my meds.” There was a pause. “I’ve talked about Peter to you before right? He was with me when we went up there.” He pointed his index finger upward to the sky. “And then a lot of things had happened while we were there, met a lot of folks good and bad. Tried to fight a battle that we couldn’t win and then I lost him.”

“You two would surely get along together.” Tony gave him a side-glance.

Harley thought about this Peter guy. He thought about the people they had lost. He thought about a chance, even if a slim one, that the Vanished could come back. He wanted to ask this to Tony but one look at the old man’s tired eyes, his question crumbled into bits.

Then things happened.

Harley’s family returned from nothingness.

But Harley was still wearing black in mourning.

Yes, everybody had returned.

But at the expense of Tony Stark’s life.

It was another cycle of mourning all over again.

 

Harley was standing far away from everybody else. He was underneath a shade of a tree as he watched the crowd from afar. His aunt, who had taken him under her wing for five years, had passed away. He watched as the coffin was lowered down to the ground. He watched as they started to cover the coffin with dirt and earth. He watched as some people lingered for a moment and bit by bit, they started to disperse. Until the only people left by the mound of earth was his aunt’s family.

He had already given his own condolences and comfort to the family earlier. Funny, how often he had been doing that lately, offering small comfort and whatnot.

He wondered how long he had to mourn.

He wondered how long he had to watch people cry for the people they lost.

He wondered how long he had to carry this sadness.

He wondered how long before the heaviness in his chest get lifted.

He wondered how long he had to miss the people that were no longer coming back.

He gave them once last glance before he left the graveyard.

Harley stopped by on a nearby convenience store to buy something to drink. There was a man behind the counter who seemed more interested in playing games on his phone rather than on the customers coming into the store. He went for the aisle of chilled beverages and picked up a beer. There was also a man in the aisle. He looked like he couldn’t choose among the variety of beverages. He was somewhere around in his fifties with thinning white hair, almost bald.

Harley noticed that the man’s basket was pretty full of junk foods and other snacks.

“It’s going to be a long drive for me so I have to stock up well for the drive.”

Harley looked up. The old man must have noticed that he was staring at his basket. The man was smiling amiably at him. He looked so pale against the fluorescent light. There were even bags under his blue eyes like he badly needed to sleep.

“Going on a trip somewhere?” Harley asked conversationally.

“Just driving back to Queens.” The man shrugged.

Harley nodded and politely excused himself to check out the beer he picked up. He also picked up some Doublemints, Reese’s and M&M’s on the way to the cash register. He didn’t tell the old man but he was going to have a longer drive than him since he needed to go back to MIT before dark. And unlike the old man who could buy lots of snacks, he had to save his cash for petrol.

Tony had left him a trust fund. But he didn’t want to touch it. Because touching it meant like he was really acknowledging the things Tony had left behind for him. He wasn’t ready for that yet. It was like poking on a wound that was taking longer to heal.

While waiting at the counter as the cashier checked out his items, He briefly wondered if the old man at the aisle was alone. He looked like he was going to fall asleep in the middle of the road. His question was answered when a woman entered the store. She looked Asian. Her dark hair was tied in a messy bun. She had bronze skin and a petite figure.

“What are you doing here?”

Harley looked back. The man he was talking earlier was looking at the newcomer.

“Don’t worry. He’s asleep.” The woman waved off. “We need coffee. Did you get one? Both of us looked like we’re going to be in a coma soon.”

Harley turned back just in time the cashier finished checking out his items. He paid for it and went out of the store. He walked back to his car holding the paper bag. The grey Audi was waiting for him. It was a gift from Tony when Harley got accepted at MIT. Harley was reluctant to accept the car at first. Tony had helped him a lot and a car seemed like too much. But Tony literally shoved the keys in his hand so it wasn’t like he could refuse anymore.

Harley pushed the key fob. The car beeped in response. His eyes wandered shortly at the white tinted van parked two spaces down from his car. He opened the car door.

“Psst!”

Harley paused. He was about to climb in the car.

“Psstt, kid!”

Harley turned his head at the source of the voice. It was from the white van. The window was rolled down. There was another man inside it.

Harley dropped the paper bag he was holding.

His heart probably dropped on the pavement too.

Because he was sure he was seeing a ghost.

“Don’t turn all the way!” The man hissed. “They’re gonna see us talking!” He glanced at the windshield.

Harley tried to tear his gaze away as he looked where the man was looking. He was looking at the convenience store ahead. There were only two customers inside, the woman and the other man whom he talked to earlier. They were now standing by the cash register.

Harley swallowed as he tried to speak. “A-are you with the man and woman inside the convenience store?”

“Y-yeah, you’ve seen them?” The man looked back at Harley.

Harley’s heart was hammering on his chest.

“Uh, can you like turn the other way, just not to make it too obvious. They thought I was sleeping and it’s probably better that way.”

“Y-yeah, okay.” Harley closed the car door. He crouched down, pretending that he was tying the shoelace of his sneakers.

“Nice kid,”

Harley’s breath hitched.

“I was just going to ask, where are we?” The man asked.

“Pittsfield, New York,” Harley answered. He dared to glance at the man again.

It couldn’t be.

It just couldn’t. . .

“Huh? So we’re still in Pittsfield?” The man mused to himself.

Harley continued to stare at him. He couldn’t help it anymore so he spoke. “T-tony?”

The man just smiled at him. “You must be mistaken. My name is Eddie-shit!”

Harley glanced up at the convenience store. The woman and man were coming out holding bigger paper bags.

“Gotta go. Thanks, kid.” The man immediately rolled up the window.

“You still there, bud?” The old man greeted Harley when they reached the parking lot.

Harley stood up picking up the fallen paper bag. “Y-yeah, just tying my shoelace.”

The man nodded. Harley opened the car door.

“Nice car!” The man said again.

Harley looked back. “Yeah, a gift from someone. Have a safe trip.”

“You too!”

Harley climbed in and shut the door closed. Thankfully, his car window was tinted too. He watched as the woman walked around to the driver’s seat and the man opened the passenger’s door. Harley squinted his eyes, trying to see the other man with them. But all he could see was a blanket wrapped around the man as if he was really sleeping. Then the door slid closed.

The van backed away from the parking. Harley started the ignition. He also maneuvered out of the lot. The van sped off.

Harley followed them.

He must have been out of his mind doing this. There just no way that it was Tony Stark. He died six months ago. He died saving the universe. He was gone. There was just. . .

But he saw it with his two eyes, someone who looked exactly like Tony. But then again, he said his name was Eddie. Was it just a doppelganger of some sort? A clone? Or the world was just too cruel that there were two people who looked so alike that would remind him of someone who died months ago.

Harley gripped the steering wheel as he sped up catching up on the van but not too close that they would notice that they were being followed. They reached a traffic circle when the van sped up even more as if they knew that he was tailing them. They turned to the first exit towards the new road.

The van started to maneuver as if they were trying to lose him. Why? Why would they do that? Were they really trying to hide something?... Or someone?

The van overtook a ten wheeler truck. Harley momentarily lost sight of the van. He accelerated cutting in on the truck. But then, the van disappeared.

Harley cursed so hard that the sailors would probably be so proud of him. He slowed down until he pulled over to the side. They must turn somewhere on the road.

He was tapping the steering wheel.

Why? Why he suddenly had this weird feeling?

“That’s it.” He announced to himself. “I must have totally lost it.”

He went back to the road. He mentally kept on repeating the plate number of the van for future reference.

* * *

Spider-Man was having an ordinary patrol until he received a call and met a fire-breathing genie.

Spider-Man started his patrol with webbing a robber on the wall. He then called the dispatcher to peel off their guy on the wall. He helped the elderly to cross the street. Webbed up some robbers again. Helped a kid to pick up the red balloon stuck on the tree. Webbed up some muggers again.

“How are you guys multiplying? Is there some sort of factory manufacturing you?” Spider-Man put his hands on his hips as he stared down at the four muggers on the pavements and tied down by his webs. The muggers just grunted in response. Spider-Man heard sirens from the distance. The cops were coming.

“Your entourage is coming. Behave!” Spider-Man extended his arm upward. His web pulled him up and he was swinging in between buildings.

On the way, he saw a big graffiti of Iron Man on a building. There was the pinching sensation in his chest again.

He saluted on the graffiti, putting a small smile behind his mask. “Hey, Mr. Stark. . .”

“Where are we going now, Peter?” Karen’s voice echoed.

“I think we’re done for the-”

He heard a scream nearby.

“. . . Or maybe not?” Spider-Man finished.

“Someone still needs help, Karen, let’s go that way.”

“Of course, Peter.”

He leaped off towards the direction of the scream. He easily spotted where the voice had come from. Spider-Man landed on an alleyway. A woman was sprawled on the pavement not from afar screaming once again.

“Hey, miss. You’re okay now, you’re okay.” Spider-Man helped the woman get up.

“T-there’s s-something. . .” The woman was visibly shaking as she pointed at something on the deeper and darker end of the alley. Karen had scanned her for injuries. Aside from the shock, she wasn’t fatally harmed.

“What?” Spider-Man squinted far ahead. The eyes of his mask narrowing into slits.

“Karen is there something in there?”

“I am detecting thermogenic signatures ten feet away.”

Spider-Man turned to the woman. “You can go now.”

“B-be careful,” The woman said. Her eyes were wide in fear. “He was not human.”

“Thank you and this was not my first time dealing with non-human folks.”

The woman ran away.

“Now, show yourself, buddy. It’s only the two of us now.” Spider-Man called out.

There was silence at first. Then there was a hissing sound. The darkened alley started to glow up. A dark figure started to emerge.

“What the hell. . .” Spider-Man stared at the figure. “You looked like a genie from Alladin.”

The figure looked like a man, except that he had blue skin and glowing eyes.

“And you breathe fire,” Spider-Man stated.

A wisp of smoke was coming out of his mouth. His whole body started to glow too as if his veins were made of fire.

Genie hissed at him.

“Well, you don’t see something like this every day,” Spider-Man muttered. He called out. “Who are you and what do you want?”

“S-S-S-S-venssss.”

“I’m sorry what? I don’t speak your language, man. You got a translator machine or something?”

“S-S-S-S-v-n-sssss.”

“None can do.” Spider-Man stepped forward. Genie bared his teeth at him.

“Listen here, you breathe fire and it is dangerous, maybe we can do something about that-”

He never finished his sentence when Genie blew fire on him.

“Shit!” Spider-Man leaped off with the help of his web. He swung forward and kicked Genie in the head. Spider-Man had to step off the smoke rising from the sole of his shoes.

Genie stumbled back hissing. He looked angrier than before. He started to blowtorch everywhere.

“That is not good. Karen, call the fire department.”

“Already did,”

“We need to subdue this dude or else he’s gonna burn this city to smithereens.” Spider-Man crawled on the wall higher up.

He kicked every pipe he could see as he simultaneously dodged the fire. He was leaping off from wall to wall. Meanwhile, the pipes broke off and water started to burst out from it hitting Fire-breathing Genie in the process.

He wailed as steam came off from him.

“Yeah, let off some steam man, cool yourself off.” Spider-Man stuck on the wall watching Genie down below.

Genie looked at his direction baring his teeth. He started to glow brighter.

“Uh-oh. . .” Spider-Man said.

Genie leaped off towards him.

“Oh my god. You are also springy as hell!”

Genie grabbed hold of Spider-Man’s shoulder as they landed on a nearby rooftop and crashed on the scaffoldings surrounding them. Spider-Man rolled away from him. His suit, on the shoulder part, singed, partially blackened.

“Minor blisters detected on both shoulder blades,” Karen said.

“Yeah, yeah, let’s put some cold patch on it later.” Spider-Man did a backflip to stand up.

“Incoming call, Harley Keener-”

“Not now-!”

“I’m afraid my countermeasures have been bypassed,” Karen said.

On the HUD, ACCESS BYPASSED had appeared.

Spider-Man sighed. He spoke to Harley. “You should really stop hijacking Karen.” His eyes never left Genie who was now growling at him ready to pounce at any second.

“Something happened,” Harley spoke.

“Yeah, things always happened. You really called on the worst time, dude.”

Genie charged at him with his fiery hands. Spider-Man shot a web on the nearby steel pole. He jumped over Genie’s head. Then Spider-Man swung back and kicked Genie on the back. Genie stumbled forward. Though he immediately regained his stance and breathed fire in Spider-Man’s direction. He easily dodged it.

“I think I saw Tony three days ago.”

Spider-Man lost his momentum as he crashed again on a wooden platform. Steel poles supporting the platform collapsed on him.

“Anndd your jokes are just the worst on the worst timing!” Spider-Man emerged from the collapsed scaffolding, just in time Genie blowtorched him.

Spider-Man picked up the first thing his hand touched. Fortunately, it was a piece of steel board. He raised the steel board. The fire made contact with steel.

“It sounds ridiculous right?” Harley asked. “Now hearing myself said that out loud. It sounded so insane.”

Spider-Man’s improvised shield started to melt. Thankfully, Genie stopped blowtorching. Spider-Man threw the melted and charred board at him. It hit him squarely in the face. He used that as an opportunity. He picked up a pole and swung it on Genie’s face. He stumbled back.

He hit him in the stomach as Genie growled.

“Wait? Are you still on patrol? What’s that noise?” Harley continued to ask.

“I told you. You called on the worst timing!”

Genie hissed at him. He opened his mouth.

“No!” Spider-Man shot a web, covering his mouth. “You are not going to blowtorch me again. I am not a turkey to be roasted.”

Genie continued to step back until he reached the edge of the rooftop. Genie looked to his side, down below.

Spider-Man guessed what he was about to do. “No, you will not-!”

Genie fell back.

A web stuck on his chest preventing him from falling down all the way down.  Spider-Man tried to pull him back through the string of web. But Spider-Man could see a smirk behind his webbed mouth. Genie touched the string of web from his chest. His hand started to glow.

The string web was snapped by the heat. Genie fell backward from the roof.

“No!”

Spider-Man looked down from the ledge. Genie was gone.

“I need to upgrade my web, a fireproof one,” Spider-Man said. “W-what were you saying again, Harley?”

 

Peter Parker was sitting on another ledge of another rooftop. He was still wearing his slightly burnt suit but sans the mask. The mask was also on the ledge next to him. His feet swinging back and forth as he stared at the graffiti of Iron-Man from across the building. It became his favorite place, a place, high enough that he could see Mr. Stark even from afar. It became his hang out place after patrol. Sometimes, he would eat there with Mr. Delmar’s sandwich while talking to the graffiti about how his patrol and day went. So somehow, he was still able to talk to Mr. Stark.

He looked up. The sky was dark and there weren’t many stars tonight. There were times, that he would think that one of those stars was Mr. Stark. It was somehow comforting to think that he was always watching them from above.

“Mr. Stark,” He began. “I guess, I wasn’t the only one who’s getting hallucinations of you now huh?”

The thing was, he didn’t tell Harley about seeing Tony too. As Harley said, it seemed so absurd. Maybe their grief was just making them too desperate to see Tony again. Maybe someday they would move on and all of these would just be a memory that wouldn’t be so painful to look back on.

Maybe.

His phone suddenly vibrated. His aunt May was texting him about his whereabouts. It was late and he wasn’t home yet so his aunt was bound to get worried. He sent her a quick text that he was on his way home.

“Bye, Mr. Stark! See you around!”

He pulled on his mask and swung off from the building.

* * *

Peter was excited to get home the next day. He wouldn’t do patrol either since they would have special visitors in their apartment. He was practically running when he reached their apartment door and opened it.

“Petey!” There was an ear-splitting shriek followed by a five-year-old girl charging at him.

“Under attack!” Peter said as he picked up Morgan and twirled her in the air.

Morgan squealed in delight.

“This is supposed to be a surprise!” Pepper said on the sofa with May and Happy sitting with her. “You don’t look surprised. Mo, you told him we were coming, didn’t you?”

“Maybee?” Morgan played with the strands of her braided hair.

“It’s fine!” Peter adjusted Morgan in his right arm. “I miss this little princess anyway.”

“Petey, can we continue building your ghostbusters lego now?” Morgan asked.

“Of course, I didn’t touch it for weeks so we could build it together.”

“Yay! Let’s go to your room. Let’s go to your room!” Morgan twisted the other way.

“Fine, you spoiled princess!” Peter relented but he was smiling.

They went to Peter’s room. The three adults were also smiling looking at them.

“I think this goes here!” Morgan said as she put a Lego piece on top of another.

They were sitting on the floor. The half-built ghostbusters firehouse was laid in front of them. Morgan was mostly the one doing all the work. Peter didn’t mind and he liked watching her solve things on her own. It was cute to see Morgan’s eyebrows pulled together in concentration, a look that highly reminded him of Tony when he was also so immersed in his own work.

“Wow, we’re going to be able to complete this anytime soon. You’re not even looking at the manual.” Peter said to her.

“Really?” Morgan’s face lit up as she put another piece on the model. “I’m excited to finish this soon.”

“There was no hurry,” Peter said. He was playing with a lego piece in his hand. “We could always come back to it.”

“But I want to build something new soon.” Morgan was looking around as if trying to find something.

Peter smiled, though there was mostly sadness in it. “Yeah, you really like building stuff huh?”

“Yeah, it’s fun.” Morgan paused when she saw the piece in his hand. She snatched it. “This is not supposed to be in your hands. But here.” She was on all fours as she put another piece. “There!” she smiled up at Peter.

And for one second, Peter could see Tony smiling back at him. Peter immediately looked away swallowing.

Morgan sat back on the floor, Indian style. She was looking down as she picked up another piece on the floor. “Petey, can I tell you something?”

“Sure anything,” Peter said turning his attention back at her.

“I saw Daddy like three days ago.” Morgan glanced up at him.

Peter’s brain briefly short-circuited.

Morgan continued. “Mom didn’t believe me and neither was Uncle Happy. But I really saw him, Peter. I tried to hug him but he didn’t hug me back.” Now, she looked crestfallen.

Peter shook his head rebooting his brain.

“Come here,” He picked up Morgan and sat her on his lap. He continued. He shouldn’t be entertaining this idea but he was doing it anyway. “Say, how are you sure that it was your dad that you saw?”

Morgan frowned. “I am very sure. He looked so much like daddy. Though there was something different on his face.”

“What different?”

“He has some sort of scar on his face. But it's okay I still recognize him.”

Peter exhaled. “A scar, you say. Do you still remember where the scar is?”

Morgan nodded leaning her head on Peter’s chest. “There was a scar on the right side of his face.”

Peter’s hand started to shake. He would never forget. He would never forget Tony’s face after the Battle in New York had ended. He remembered his mentor’s bloodied face. He remembered that there was so much blood on the right side of his face courtesy of using the infinity stones. He vividly remembered how every second mattered because it was Tony’s last breaths.

“Morgan, look at me.”

Morgan twisted on his lap as she gazed up at him with big doe brown eyes. Peter willed away the image of Tony’s lifeless brown eyes staring at him.

“Did you notice anything else about the man?”

Morgan was silent for a moment, letting her big brain worked. Her face lit up. “Ah! His right hand!”

“What about his right hand?”

“I think he was wearing some weird gloves.” Morgan frowned again. “But it didn’t look like gloves.”

Peter reached for his phone on the bed. His fingers flew on the screen. “Does it look something like this?”

He showed her a googled picture of a prosthetic arm.

“Yes! It was like that!” Morgan answered.

“Oh my god,” Peter whispered. “Mo, anything else, you noticed?”

“Some other man called him with a different name.”

“What name?”

“Eddie?”

“Shit. Shit.” Peter cursed.

“Shit?” Morgan mimicked.

Peter covered her mouth. “Don’t say that. You’re not allowed to say that.”

“Daddy said only mom was allowed to say that.”

“Yes, because she’s an adult and when you grow older like mommy. You will be allowed to say that.” With shaking hands, Peter dialed Harley’s number.

Harley had told him the same thing yesterday. He saw Tony looked-alike but it wasn’t really Tony because the man’s name was Eddie. It was too high of a coincidence that two people saw a man named Eddie who was a doppelganger of Tony. And what about the Tony he saw on the pedestrian. Was it really just not some hallucinations?

Harley answered on the third ring.

“Hello-?”

“What if it wasn’t hallucinations after all?”

“What are you talking about-?”

“Morgan saw another Mr. Stark looked-alike who coincidentally also has a name, Eddie.”

“I’m coming to Queens,” Harley said.

“Petey, is daddy gonna come back?” Morgan asked when Peter hung up.

Peter hugged her tightly. For the first time, he allowed himself to hope, even if hoping for something impossible. “I don’t Mo, I don’t know.”

 

“You haven’t told Pepper yet?” Harley said to Peter.

They were walking side by side on the sidewalk on the way to Pepper’s penthouse. They asked Pepper if they could use Tony’s lab and she immediately agreed. She even said that they didn’t have to ask anymore since Tony’s lab was also theirs. No one was going to use it anymore aside from them and maybe Morgan when she grew up.

“I told her that I was going to do upgrade on my web fluid and fix my suit. I encountered a fire-breathing genie the other day. He ruined my suit.”

“Fire-breathing genie?” Harley raised an eyebrow at him.

Peter waved his hand in dismissal. “That’s a thing for another day. I have Karen on high alert anyway in case he attacks again. We have something urgent to tackle first.”

“Right,” Harley exhaled. “Urgent. Do. .do you . . .” He hesitated. “Do you really think he’s alive?”

“I don’t want to get my hopes up even though the three of us saw a glimpse of him. For all we know, it might not be really him, you know, and we’re just chasing ducks. That’s why I can’t tell Pepper just yet. I don’t want to give her hope and crushed it if it turned out that we were wrong.”

Harley nodded in acknowledgment.

 

“Petey! Harley!” Morgan’s face brightened up upon seeing them arrived at the penthouse. “Can we play-?”

“Nope!” Pepper picked up Morgan before she could run to the boys. “You can’t play. Harley and Petey have something important to do at Daddy’s lab. You can’t disturb them.”

Morgan pouted.

“Don’t worry, Mo. After we’re done, we’re gonna play.” Harley wiggled his eyebrows at her.

Morgan squealed.

“Don’t mind this spoiled princess. I’ve also prepared some sandwiches for you guys and the guest rooms are ready in case you want to sleep over-”

Morgan gasped in delight. “Harley and Peter are going to sleep here? Can I sleep with them? We’re gonna build big pillow fort!”

“Sure, we’re gonna build the biggest pillow fort in history!” Peter grinned at her.

Morgan grinned back.

Pepper looked at her daughter in her arms. “But you can’t disturb them just yet, you understand. They’re going to do some big research.”

“Okay! Then pillow fort after.”

“It’s no big deal really,” Peter said. “We’ll just fix my suit and Harley was just going to help me research about this fire-breathing villain-”

Pepper raised an eyebrow. “Fire-breathing you say?”

“Y-yeah . . . ? There’s this guy who breathes fire I encountered the other day and I want to know more about the guy.”

“Woah?” Morgan said. “Was he like Toothless?”

Pepper was silent for a moment contemplating and ignoring her daughter’s antics. “Let me put Morgan to bed first. I think I could help you with that. I’ll follow you in the lab.”

“Okay, yeah, thank you. . .” Peter said.

Pepper started to leave the living room, hopping and avoiding the minefield that was Lego blocks scattered on the carpeted floor.

But Pepper suddenly yelped in pain. “Shi-ny boots!”

Morgan tilted her head at her mommy.

“How do you tolerate having lego pieces around?” Pepper asked Peter.

“I had gotten used to it, I guess.”

“Sometimes, I am so tempted to incinerate them,” Pepper muttered.

“No you won’t” Morgan frowned at her.

“Yes, I won’t, your majesty, jeez!” Pepper said to her daughter as they continued to make their way upstairs.

When they disappeared on the second floor, Harley turned to Peter. He hit him lightly in the stomach. “Why would you tell her that? How can we do research on Tony now that she’s going to be around?”

“I know,” Peter winced. “It just slipped out. I have no idea that she’s gonna be interested about fire-breathing villains. Lets’ just make it quick. Knowing Morgan, it would take time to put her to sleep.”

 

“So, let’s make it clear,” Harley said. They were standing on an electronic table in the lab. The holographic display was in the air. “I saw Tony’s doppelganger; let’s call him TD for short, in Pittsfield, New York, five days ago at two in the afternoon. And then, almost four hours later, you saw TD in Queens on a pedestrian. And then according to Morgan, she claimed that she saw him in Manhattan the next day.”

“And the common thing about our glimpses of him was, he was called Eddie.” Peter continued.

“And he doesn’t seem to remember who we are much less who he is.” Harley supplied.

“Then there’s the prosthetic arm and scarred face.” Peter continued crossing his arms. “That’s likely to happen if let’s say hypothetically, Tony survived. The right side of his body was severely damaged after using the infinity stones. And if we’re going to rely on a statement of a five-year-old kid, there’s a high possibility that it could be him.”

“But you saw him died.” Harley countered.

“We didn’t see the body afterward,” Peter stared at the hologram.

“They cremated him. His ash was in the lake.”

Peter continued to stare. “But what if it’s not his ash?”

“Fuck, do you know how messed up is that?” Harley turned to him. “Let’s say that it’s not his ash. How did he get resurrected back to life? Is that even possible?”

“You know after all the things I’ve witnessed recently. I don’t think that’s impossible anymore.”

“What’s not impossible anymore?”

The latter two jumped in surprised as both of them whipped around at the direction of the voice. Pepper just entered the lab. Peter switched the hologram into a different interface instead of Tony’s data appearing on it.

Pepper looked amused. “You two looked like you're in deep conversation.”

“Y-yeah, we’re in the middle of researching about a fire-breathing genie.” Harley lied.

Pepper snapped her fingers. “Ah, right, fire-breathers.” She walked towards the table and maneuvered the hologram.

“Do you know anything about those?” Peter asked.

“Years ago, Tony and I fought someone called the Mandarin. Friday pulled out all Tony’s notes and archives about the Extremis.”

“Security voice clearance accepted. Biometrics scanned and accepted.” Friday said.

Pepper glanced at them, answering their questioning gazes about the security clearance. “It was on Tony’s super private and secret server so people wouldn’t discover it and use it for bad purposes. You know how that works.”

“Who’s the Mandarin?” Harley asked. Holographic folders appeared on the screen. Pepper opened them.

“His name was Aldrich Killian. He was a scientist who developed Extremis alongside with another scientist named Maya Hansen.” Pepper explained. “Basically, Extremis is a genetic manipulation that grants a body to heal and regenerate physical damages. It also allows people who harnessed it to have super strength, fire powers, and the likes.”

“You know this subject very well,” Harley noted.

“Of course, I’ve been injected by Extremis before.”

Pepper burst into laughter by Peter and Harley’s reaction. They went slack. Their eyes were wide and mouths hanging open.

“Don’t worry,” Pepper assured them. “I’m not going to breathe fire on you. Tony found a way to stabilize the Extremis in my body. I haven’t been able to harness it for years.”

“Stabilize meaning it was never been removed from your body.” Harley tried to clarify after recovering from the shock.

Pepper shrugged. “Tony said that it couldn’t be removed from my body anymore. But so far, I was able to live normally after that. I haven’t been able to burn things with my hands ever since.”

“So you think, this fire-breathing genie I’ve encountered was related to Extremis?” Peter asked.

“That is likely,” Pepper answered. Then she frowned. “Maybe someone was recreating Extremis? But Tony made sure that the whole information about Extremis was locked in his server. We haven’t tackled this subject for years.”

“But why these folders were modified six months ago?” Harley suddenly asked.

“What?” Pepper’s head turned to him.

Harley’s hands were in the air, manipulating the hologram. “Here look at the date modified at the lower corner. Someone opened these folders and did something to it.”

“That’s impossible,” Pepper said.  “You just witnessed a while back how the archives have security clearances. No one could just access it except for Tony and me-”

“Someone hacked down Friday,” Peter said. His hands were also in the air opening Friday’s programming data.

“W-what? Who would do that?” Pepper's frown deepened.

“Friday, did someone get into one of Tony’s labs six months ago?” Peter asked.

“I’m afraid all security footages from six months ago have been deleted from my server.”

“Who?” Pepper asked.

“The IP address that deleted my footages six months ago was from the lake house.”

“Six months ago?” Pepper murmured. “The only time we’ve allowed people in the lake house was-”

“-On Tony’s funeral. . .” Harley finished for her.

“Oh my god,” Peter slumped forward gripping the edge of the table as if his energy had been zapped from him.

“What?” Pepper asked.

But Peter was looking at Harley. “'Ley, if Extremis has the ability to regenerate and heal physical damages, do you think, do you think. . .”He couldn’t finish.

“Holy shit,” Harley understood what Peter meant immediately. “But the Extremis works for the living body only we don’t know yet if it has the ability to resurrect the dead-”

“Guys, what’s going on?” Pepper cut in.

Harley and Peter looked at Pepper.

“I think we should tell her now,” Harley said.

“Tell me what? Why are you looking at me like that?” Pepper was looking back and forth between the two.

“Pepper,” Peter started. “We're suspecting that Mr. Stark is alive.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and the real fun is about to start. i'm quite excited.
> 
> thanks for reading!


	4. He saw who he is

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Unbeta-ed chapter.

He had woken up and learned that his name was Eddie Stevens.

They said that he had been asleep for more than a month.

That was them putting it lightly that he had been in a comatose state for a while.

It might look like he was just sleeping to them, but for Eddie, it felt like a very long journey of waking up. His journey started with the path of agony. He might not be awake but he could vividly remember the feeling of hot searing pain. As if instead of blood, lava was flowing down his veins incinerating his entire body.

It was torture. As if the wrath of Hell unleashed its punishment on him. But what did he do? What did he do to receive such a punishment?

So, he let go.

He tried escaping torture and Hell by letting go.

That’s when he met darkness.  He felt like drifting off in space far away from Earth in what felt like forever.  That was fine by him. That was small mercy compared to a fire chasing him and engulfing him in its flames. Somehow, he had found solace in nothingness.

The voices didn’t come until later. He didn’t know where exactly he had started to hear voices because time and day were non-existent. However, the voices were so distant that he couldn’t even understand any of it. They were like whispers, like a lullaby sending him deep into the void.

 What he didn’t expect to come was the light.

He had gotten so accustomed to the dark that he didn’t expect that light would still come.

The light appeared as a dot at first. As if it was a lone star in a vast night sky and the tiny star had a magnetic pull that drawing him closer to it.

As he drifted closer to it, the light grew bigger and bigger and bigger until the star became as big and as bright as the sun. It was overwhelming. The light was so intense that he realized that he wasn’t surrounded by darkness anymore.

 He was being engulfed by light. The light didn’t feel like flames scorching his skin. It felt so warm and soothing. Unlike the darkness that was cold and felt so empty.

And so, he embraced the light.

Then there were two faces looming over him.

“Oh my god.” It was a woman who was standing on his left. She was holding a defibrillator on both hands. “He’s awake. . .”

“Now, now, Cecil,” The male on his right said. “Let’s give Eddie a chance to breathe first. Meanwhile, why don’t you give Fury and Coulson a call? They’ve been waiting for good news.”

* * *

He couldn’t remember his life before sleeping for a very long time.

They said that he was a geneticist and an expert at biochemistry. There was an explosion in their laboratory due to the experiment that Eddie was doing. Everyone managed to evacuate except for Eddie. When they did a search and rescue after the fire died down, they found his body underneath the rubbles. The right side of his body had been damaged and burned. His right arm was beyond repair.

He tried to learn all these things while having all sorts of therapy to get back to his old bearings. They said he had amnesia. That was why his brain was like a big blank paper to him. He hated not knowing the most basic stuff about himself. It felt so frustrating not even remembering his name. Hence, he poured all his frustration into multi-tasking since there were a lot of things to catch up on.

“You’re reading again,” A voice said from behind him. He was sitting on a bench by the lake underneath a shade of the tree. He had decided to do some work outside since the afternoon was fair and the air was cool and refreshing.

A woman sat beside him holding a tray with a glass of lemonade and his medications on it. Her name was Cecil Stevens. She was a Filipino who went to the US to work. That was also where she met Eric Stevens, Eddie’s cousin. Later on, they had decided to get married. She was a scientist like her husband.

She wore a white sleeveless shirt and tattered jeans. Her charcoal black hair was usually up in a messy bun. Bangs were covering her forehead and strands of hair cascading her face. Her deep bronze skin looked more vibrant under the sun. She had brown eyes that always looked warmly at him. She was in her forties, though her appearance looked younger than her actual age.

“I am not reading. I am doing a blueprint to upgrade my prosthetics.” Eddie raised his right black prosthetic arm and flexed his prosthetic hand.

“Why? Is it bothering you? We can call someone to fix it-”

“It just felt stiff, that’s all.” He smiled at her to ease her worry. “And you don’t need to call anyone. I think I can fix this one. Are you sure that I’m really a geneticist? Why I felt like I preferred to study nonliving stuff rather than anything that has blood in it.”

Cecil just stared at him.

He looked ahead. “Maybe my brain had been damaged for sleeping for a very long time?”

Cecil cleared her throat. “You should drink your medicine. Eric always nagged me when I don’t give it to you on time.”

Eddie snorted a laugh but obeyed. He put down his tablet on the bench and swallowed the pill. He proceeded to drink the lemonade.

He gulped looking down at the glass. “This was delicious.”

“Of course, I made it.” She was staring at the lake as Eddie chuckled at her quip.

Eddie put down the glass on the tray and resumed working on the tablet. Meanwhile, Cecil leaned back on the bench and tilted her head back. She closed her eyes savoring the gentle breeze and warm heat. This place is so nice, isn't it?"

“Yeah,” Eddie agreed absentmindedly as he continued to work on his blueprint, looking down at the tablet. “I like being near the lake and our house being nearby. I feel kind of nostalgic.” He paused. He glanced at Cecil. “Did we use to live somewhere near the lake too?”

Cecil opened her eyes, brown eyes boring into him. She answered after a beat. “Yeah, you used to.”

He nodded as he soaked this new information. “I used to live somewhere near the lake too? Can’t we move back there, maybe it will help me bring back my memories.”

Cecil just smiled. “You’ll go back there when you’re all healed up.” She stood up bringing the tray with her. “Don’t stay out here too long and head back to the house. You still can’t overwork yourself.”

He saluted at her. “Yes, ma’am.”

Cecil gave him another smile before leaving.

Eddie gazed at the lake. He wondered how long it was going to take before he healed completely. Honestly, he felt fine lately. He didn’t feel so feverish and feel like he was going to combust. His coordination was better than ever, maybe except his prosthetics. But he could fix that soon.  The thing was and something he never told anyone not even to Cecil or Eric, he felt like a prisoner in this place. There were constant strangers roaming around the area. They all acted nonchalantly but Eddie knew that they were watching his every move. Cecil and Eric assured him that they were just ordinary guards of the place just in case there were threats. What kind of threat? Something about burglars and such, they told him. Though in his opinion, wearing a Kevlar vest and armed from head to foot was a bit too much for burglars.

It unnerved him that it felt like they were not telling him something.

Cecil and Eric were genuinely kind and nice to him. That, he could tell. But there was just this nagging feeling that he was missing out something.

For the next few days, Eddie had spent his time holed up in the laboratory making a new and improved arm prosthetics. He let himself immersed in the smell of burnt metal and let himself be surrounded by nothing but tangles of wires and dozens of tools and equipment. There was something satisfying about holding a soldering iron and assembling the tiny pieces of machinery together.

“Sir, we still need to do some diagnostic check and calibration-” A male mechanical voice echoed in the laboratory.

“Yes, dear Ralph we are going to test the new prosthesis by attaching it to me,” Eddie said wiping his hand with a dirty rag. He was staring down at the newly built arm prosthetics laid on the table. The prosthesis' silver color was gleaming under the fluorescent light.

“But Sir, it is not advisable-”

“You’re an adorable AI Ralph, why don’t you just break the internet or something. But before that, prepare the gear for prosthetic change-”

“I see you’ve been very busy.”

Eddie turned at the source of the voice. Agent Coulson was standing by the door of the laboratory. He was wearing a gray t-shirt underneath the black leather jacket. Eddie didn’t know much about Agent Coulson aside from his first name being Agent and his last name being Coulson. Coulson was popping up at the house every now and then to check up on him. Though, he didn’t know why he had to check up on him. They weren’t even relatives. Coulson cleared that to him from their very first meeting. He said that it was just his job to know how he was doing.

“Hi, Agent.” Eddie greeted. “It’s been a while, where have you been? By the way, I like your jacket.”

Agent Coulson shrugged. “Just here and there. Thanks, it’s my favorite jacket. Do you mind if I interrupt you? We have a meeting in the conference room. Everyone was already there.”

* * *

Eddie entered the room a little bit perplexed. He put on dark blue sleeves over his tank top before going to the conference room. Like, Coulson said, everyone was already there. And by everyone, it meant: Eric, Cecil and Nick Fury. The only people who were constant in his life including Coulson since he had woken up.

“Are we having a tea party?” Eddie joked. Coulson motioned him to sit next to Cecil. He obeyed. Cecil smiled up at him in which he returned the smile. He and Eric nodded at each other.

Nick Fury was seating at the head of the table. Meanwhile, Coulson sat across him and next to Eric.

“So now that everybody’s here,” Fury said. The old man seldom appreciated Eddie’s jokes. He was always the type of going straight to the business guy.  He was always wearing a black trench coat as if he was a leader of some sort of mafia.

Fury looked at Eddie. “Stevens, we’ve decided that we are going to change location. We’re heading Upstate. We figured that it would be better for you to be there since the technology there was more advanced that could better aid you while you’re still recovering.”

Eddie slightly frowned. Did they mean that they were going to a new place where he would be locked up to again? But he didn’t say that out loud. “I’m still recovering? Honestly, I feel okay. I can already go out there and maybe take a walk in the park.”

“Don’t let that fool you, Stevens.” Fury said. “We still aren’t sure. There might be relapses. We still have to watch your progress.”

“What kind of progress exactly?” Eddie shot back. “Was there something serious going on in me that you’re not telling me?”

Sometimes, he felt like they were overdoing the health care they were providing him. Sure, he might have gone into a coma before. But why they needed to watch him constantly? Why there was always tight security around him like a he was on a leash.

“Eddie.” Cecil, the ever calm one, put a hand on his shoulder. “We just want to be thorough. There were coma patients that were doing therapies for years. You’ve been recovering too fast and we don’t want to overlook something that would put your health at risk sooner or later.”

Eddie wanted to retort back but he bit off his tongue. If not his health, his mouth would be the one who would put him at risk. He figured that the more he resisted the more his leash around his neck would tighten. He would just continuously observe silently as he had done in the past. He was getting more answers that way rather than blatantly asking for it.

“Right.” He exhaled. “So when are we moving in?”

“Tomorrow.” Fury answered.

“Tomorrow? Are we in a hurry or something?” Eddie was surprised.

“Why? Are we waiting for something?” Fury asked back.

Eddie smiled thinly. “Maybe someone in a white horse who would sweep me off my feet,”

“It settles then.” Fury stood up. “Don’t pack too much. You’ve got a lot of new things waiting for you in the new facility and new toys to play with. You’ll love it.”

“I hope I will.”

Agent Coulson and Nick Fury were talking as they headed out of the conference room. Eddie was a couple of feet behind them. Eric and Cecil had remained in the conference room. Eddie was watching Coulson and Fury’s retreating figure. There was more to them than they were letting on. He was sure of it.

Then he remembered that he was going to ask Cecil and Eric about the details of their moving in because no one was cluing in him about anything until the last second. He literally needed to pry out the answers from them. He turned around and walked back towards the conference room.

He reached the door. The door was partly open. He could see the couple talking through the gap. That made him pause.

“Fury said it would be dangerous if we transport him awake,” Cecil said.

Eddie’s brows furrowed. That meant him, right? What danger were they talking about?

“Yeah, that’s why we need to drug him. Put sleeping pills in his drink tomorrow at breakfast.” Eric said.

“D-do we really have to do that-?”

“You know the risk, Cecil. . .” Eric cut in. “We’re going to Manhattan and that’s not really the place he needed to go sightseeing. Plus, you know we need to make a short detour at Queens and try to make a quick search for him.”

“Fury gave permission to do that?”

“Yeah, it is a green light and we need to make most of our trip there. Fury needs information." There was a pause. "By the way, I managed to convince Fury that we don’t need an entourage of guards following us on the trip. That will make Eddie more suspicious-”

Cecil snorted. “He’s starting to be suspicious right now.”

“Let’s just be more careful about our moves.” Eric sighed.

Eddie took a step back at the door.  He was staring down at the floor. What were they hiding from him? What was happening in Upstate that he couldn’t see? They were currently in Pittsfield, New York in the middle of tall grasses and nowhere. So there was nothing really to see out there. He hadn’t been in downtown ever since he had woken up. He wasn’t allowed to buy even a carton of milk in the nearby convenience store.  He thought that they were just taking precautionary measures about his health but what if it wasn’t just about his health at all? Maybe there was a reason why they were in a place away from the neighboring area.

He was going to know everything.

He would make sure of that.

He didn’t enter the room anymore as he treated back in the laboratory. The laboratory was the only safe haven for him, accompanied by an AI and robots.  They weren’t tricky to be with unlike the humans he was constantly surrounding himself with.

In the morning, that was when Eddie got some of the details about their moving in over the breakfast, mostly, details that he already had overheard last night. They were going to Manhattan, to a bigger and advanced facility. They would make a quick detour in Queens before going to Manhattan.

When he asked what they were going to do in Queens, their only answer was they were going to meet some old colleague that was going to lend their notes about some old studies to them. They were going to get the papers. Their answers were obviously lies.

It started to piss Eddie off. He was realizing then that maybe all the answers he was getting from them were just a lie from the beginning. But he had to reign in his temper. Because he also had a mission he needed to accomplish and he couldn’t jeopardize it. It was his only shot.

He did all the talk while distracting them from the fact that he hadn’t yet drunk the juice they offered to him. He was making a show of taking a sip every now and then but he wasn’t really opening his mouth and drinking it. Moments later, the fire alarm broke off. Cecil and Eric stood up from their seat in panic. Eddie followed suit.

Guards came running down in the hallway.

“What was that?” Eric asked the guard that came to the kitchen.

“Sprinklers got activated in your office, Mr. Stevens!” The guard said.

“My office?” Eric was taken aback. “I-I have important files there!”

“Oh no!” Eddie chimed in.

“Let’s go!” Cecil dragged Eric out of the kitchen.

Meanwhile, Eddie remained on his spot not even bothered by the chaos around him. Why should he when he was the one who set that up in the first place?  He needed another distraction so they would leave the kitchen.

Eddie walked to the kitchen sink holding the glass of juice. He poured the juice down the sink.

* * *

“I can’t believe it was only a false alarm caused by a faulty system!” An hour later, Eric was dragging two suitcases down the cemented stairs towards the white van parked at the front door.

“But hey!” Eddie said after putting his own suitcase at the back of the van.  He helped Eric to bring one of the suitcases to the van. “The good news is, none of your important files got drenched.” Eddie wasn’t that evil to let Eric’s files be a casualty on his plan. He kept the files beforehand.

“Eddie was right.” Cecil was sitting inside with the car door open. “Let’s just be thankful that you got your files and we’re moving into a new place. I am excited!”

Eddie feigned a yawn. “I think I am going to sleep through the whole drive. I feel a bit sleepy.”

“That’s okay!” Cecil assured him. “You can sleep through the whole trip. Eric and I will take turns on driving.”

“Besides, you need to rest up.” Eric clapped him on the shoulder. “We should get going. I’ll drive first.”

Eddie climbed into the van with Cecil sitting by the door. He sat comfortably wrapped in a blanket. He closed his eyes as the van started to move.

It was show time.

The thing was he really did doze up while on the road. Maybe because he didn’t get much sleep last night setting up his distraction and trying to find new information that would enlighten him somehow. He had realized a long time ago that he was restricted to use the internet. That time, he didn’t so much question about it since he chose to focus on healing and recovery. They were giving him information via hard copy or through soft copy so there wasn’t much he needed to look up on the internet.

But the thing was last night he had started to be suspicious about why he couldn’t use the internet. He could easily fix that but it would probably be traced back to him. He didn’t need complicated stuff to deal with that would jeopardize their move. This was the first time he would be out of the facility. He had a feeling that all the answers he had been searching for were outside of that place.

Eddie might have dozed for quite some time. He had woken up alone in the van. He looked around. They were parked in front of the convenience store. He moved closer to the windshield. He squinted at the convenient store. He could see Cecil and Eric standing by the cash register inside. He leaned back on his seat.

He glanced around once more outside through the window. He tried to find a clue as to where they were now. But there was nothing that could give him an answer.

He immediately rolled down the window. Luckily, there was a random guy who was about to climb into his car.

“Psst!” He tried to call the kid.

The latter seemed not to hear him so he called again. This time the guy turned in his direction.

And boy, he looked like he had seen a ghost. He even dropped the paper bag he was holding. Though, Eddie ignored that because there were more pressing matters at hand.

“Don’t turn all the way!” He hissed. Cecil and Eric would probably catch him being awake and all. “They’re gonna see us talking!”  He glanced again at the windshield. So far, the couple was still minding their own business.

“A-are you with the man and woman inside the convenience store?” The guy asked.

He glanced back at the kid. “Y-yeah, you’ve seen them?” He continued. “Uh, can you like turn the other way, just not to make it too obvious. They thought I was sleeping and it’s probably better that way.”

“Y-yeah, okay.” The kid slammed shut the car door. He crouched down, pretending that he was tying the shoelace of his sneakers.

He was impressed. “Nice kid,” He had realized he was getting off track. So he asked immediately. “I was just going to ask, where are we?”

“Pittsfield, New York,” The kid answered.

Eddie was a bit surprised at that. He thought that they had gone far enough. So his nap wasn’t that long. “Huh? So we’re still in Pittsfield?”

“T-tony?”

Eddie stared at the kid for a second. Maybe the kid reminded him of someone he knew? Nonetheless, he smiled. “You must be mistaken. My name is Eddie-shit!” On his peripheral vision, he could see there were movements from the convenience store. Eric and Cecil were coming out. “Gotta go. Thanks, kid.” He immediately rolled up the window.

He leaned back on the seat and repositioned himself surrounded by the blanket. He closed his eyes just in time the car door opened.

“The guy is still in dreamland.” He heard Eric’s voice. So Cecil took the wheels this time.

“We’ve given him a heavy dose. What do you expect?” Cecil said cranking up the engine.

The engine roared to life. Soon, they backed away from the lot and were back on the main road.

There was another moment or so of silence and pretending to be asleep when Cecil had spoken. “H-honey, I think the car from the convenience store was following us. . .”

“W-what?” There was a shift in the seat. Eric must have been looking behind.

Eddie frowned. Was it the kid he talked to earlier? Why were they following them?

“D-do you think he knows us?” Cecil asked.

“That’s impossible,” Eric answered. “I’ve never seen that kid in my life until earlier.”

“W-what are we going to do?” Cecil tried to rein her panic in her voice. “H-he can’t follow us.”

There was a pause before Eric responded. “There! Turn to that road on the right. We need to lose him no matter who he is and what he wants.”

There was an increase in their speed as their car swerved on the road.

“I think, I already lost the kid.” Cecil finally said after a moment. “But who is he? Why is he following us?

“Let’s just worry about that later,” Eric said.

Eddie was tossing and turning on his seat every now and then so his limbs wouldn’t fall asleep. His eyes remained closed but his ears perked up every time the two would talk. Maybe they would spill something while they were thinking he was asleep. Unfortunately, there was nothing worth noting for. Cecil would ask directions from time to time and Eric would talk about their latest studies and other boring stuff. They were stuck in heavy traffic. He immediately caught on that due to Eric’s string of curses about the said traffic every time their car would stop. It could have been hours that he was so tempted to break off his charade and pretend to wake up but he was still hoping that one of them would slip up soon.

He was relieved to be right another hour or so when their car halted and Cecil spoke.

“You think we will see Eddie here?” Cecil asked in a hushed voice.

Eddie froze. What did they mean about that? He was right there. Or maybe they were really going to meet a person that coincidentally had the same name as him.

There was an audible sigh from Eric. “Let’s just hope so,”

“What about him? Are we just going to leave him here?”

“This was the plan all along, letting him sleep so he wouldn’t know anything. I think this area was safe to leave him alone for a minute. We just have to be quick. And if Eddie was really there, he could be dangerous. We need to be careful. Let’s go.” There was the sound of car doors opening and shutting closed.

He waited for a minute just to make sure. He opened one eye then another. He sat up straighter and looked around. He saw the couple’s retreating figure not too far away. He immediately pulled out the key from the ignition and climbed down the car. He locked the van. They were in a remote alleyway and he wasn’t that too trusting to leave an open van with the keys in it. Muggers usually infested this kind of place so better be safe than sorry.

He had decided to follow the couple. He was tailing them at the same time keeping his distance from them. He pulled lower the black baseball cap to his face. He wanted to know who was another Eddie they were searching for. The couple turned several corners. They looked like they were lost and trying to find a certain place. Eddie hid underneath a concrete staircase not from afar. Somehow, for a second, his eyes wandered away from them and glanced across the street.

He froze.

There was a big mural across the street.

And for some reason, there was a big painting of a man that awfully looked like him.

At that moment, he felt like he had forgotten the present. He had forgotten about Cecil and Eric. He had forgotten that he should be following them.

He walked across the street in a daze. He removed his cap and looked up at the big painting. Only half of the man’s body was painted. He was surrounded by pieces of red metals. He was wearing a suit with his tie loosened around his neck. His right arm was in red and gold armor. There was a repulsor on his open palm and the hand was pointing in one direction. He had realized that the metals surrounding him were some sort of body armor. The painting was so realistic that it could be mistaken as a photograph slapped to the wall. And what caught Eddie’s attention was the man’s face. They had the same big brown eyes, a straight nose, thin lips, and even the freaking goatee. Lastly, underneath the painting, a word OUR HERO was neatly written in big and bold cursive letters.

He glanced down at his own black prosthesis. His prosthesis was hidden in the long sleeves of his navy blue plaids. So it looked like he was just wearing black gloves on his right hand. He clenched and open his pseudo knuckles. Then he glanced again at the painting.

Who are you?

He was broken out from his string of thoughts when two guys were walking in his direction. He immediately wore his cap and bowed his head. He faced the other way.

“Yo, man!” One of the guys called him as the two stopped in front of the mural feet away from Eddie.

Eddie froze once again. Nevertheless, he didn’t turn to them.

“You’re a fan of Iron Man too?” the guy continued.

Iron Man?

He didn’t answer.

“It’s alright if you’re sad that he’s gone.” The other guy spoke. “We all miss him. But one thing’s for sure, Tony Stark would never be forgotten.”

Tony Stark?

“See you around, man,” The other guy continued. “You can come by to our club so we could commemorate together our beloved Tony Stark! It was just a block away from here. It’s called, TS Infinity Club, no membership fee! Hope to see you there, man!”

Then they left.

Tony?

Suddenly, he remembered the kid from the convenient store and how the kid called him Tony. Maybe they were just really looked alike somehow?

He turned his head on the alleyway where he had seen Cecil and Eric last. They were gone and right now he couldn’t have cared where they had gone to.

He gave the mural one last glance before sprinting downtown.

He needed to know who Tony Stark was.

Eddie was not prepared to see Tony Stark in a real photograph. It was like he was looking at the picture of himself that existed somewhere in an alternate universe if the alternate universe had ever existed at all.

Tony Stark could have been his twin.

Or he could have been Tony Stark all this time.

He went to the nearest small thrift bookshop with a lot of Iron Man memorabilia. The bookshop was empty so he could read in peace. There were old issues of magazines with Tony Stark as a cover. There were also various reading materials about Tony Stark, ranging from comics to non-fiction books. He skimmed all through those finding relevant information about that Stark guy. He had focused on a certain magazine. It had a brief but concise article about Tony Stark.

Anthony Edward Stark who was also known as Iron Man died six months ago, sacrificing himself when an alien fleet tried to destroy Earth. Eddie’s head had started to ache. Aliens were real. And he didn’t want to make some weird connection about the date of Stark’s death to the lab explosion happening six months ago that put him in a coma for more than a month. He certainly didn’t want to make another weird connection about the fact that Tony was a genius mechanic just like Eddie-not the genius type but Tony was also into machines just like him. Stark had built innovative technology that shaped their present and their future.

He flipped through the pages of the magazine. He paused when he saw a picture of a woman occupying an entire page. His first thought was, she was beautiful in a regal way. She looked intelligent. It could be seen from her posture and appearance. She had blond hair and blue eyes. Her name was Virginia “Pepper” Potts-Stark, wife of the late Tony Stark and CEO of Stark Industries.

Tony Stark had a family he left behind.

According to the magazine, they had a daughter too but her picture wasn’t shown in the magazine for some privacy.

Eddie didn’t understand why his chest was constricting as if he couldn’t breathe.  He didn’t understand why it was hurting for the people he didn’t know. He couldn’t understand why he suddenly felt overwhelmed by nostalgia and sadness.

He was startled when something wet dropped on the page of the magazine. He touched his cheek and realized that a single tear slid down from his face. He immediately wiped it with the back of his hand and continued reading.

He had learned that Tony Stark was the only son of Howard Stark and Maria Stark.  So Tony being his twin was impossible to happen.

His hands had turned cold.

What if all this time, he had woken up to a lie about his whole life?

What if he was Tony Stark all this time?

And this was the reason why Cecil and Eric were preventing him from seeing New York because he would know the truth about himself.

Why would they lie about his true identity?

What did they want from him?

Eddie staggered back. He suddenly felt lightheaded and dizzy. His back hit the nearby shelf. Some of the books from that shelf fell on the floor. The old man, who was the owner and seemed not to care about him earlier, was now looking at him behind the counter with a hawk-like gaze as if Eddie was up to no good.

“Sorry,” He said hoarsely. He pulled down the cap again to his face and picked up the books. He haphazardly shoved the books back to the shelf together with the magazine he had been reading for a while.

He had to get out of there or he would probably faint.

He continued to stagger through the sidewalk with his head bowed low to his chest and his one hand clutching his head. His head was throbbing. He muttered a string of apologies to the people he had been bumping into.

What if he was Tony Stark?

He had a family.

He had a different life before all of this had happened.

He tried to roll those thoughts in his head just to see if it felt fitting but all it brought to him was more ache to his whole being.

He stopped at the pedestrian lane. For once, he dared to look up. Tall buildings were looming over them. It felt like those concrete structures were going to swallow him whole. The traffic noise was ringing in his ears. He felt more lost than what he felt the moment he had first woken up with his brain functioning, yet empty with memories he had tried to search.

Who was he?

The people had started to cross the street. That was when he had decided that he would go back to Eric and Cecil. He wouldn’t remain silent anymore and would now demand the truth he deserved to know and the truth that they hid from him.

He turned around.

“Mr. Stark!”

He was only three steps away when he heard a distant voice.

 He was about to look at the direction of the voice when a strong hand gripped his wrist. Before he even knew it, he was being pulled in another direction.

“What were you thinking?!”

It was Eric who was dragging him. He slightly turned his head in Eddie's direction. He was clearly pissed by the way his jaw clenched. His brows were knitted together in a deep frown. He had a death grip on Eddie’s wrist.

That made Eddie even angrier. He had the right to be angry too. With all his might, he yanked back his arm. They halted.

“No!” Eddie’s voice was strained but there was so much power in it. He glared at Eric. “What were you thinking? Tell me the truth who am I?”

Instead, Eric was looking around wildly. People walking past them were looking at them with curiosity. He hissed. He stepped closer to Eddie. His voice was low. “Not here. Let’s go somewhere where there are not a lot of people who could re-”

“You don’t want to get attention? You’ll definitely get it if you don’t tell me right now.” Eddie said matching the tone of Eric’s voice.

There was a pause.

“Yes, you are him.” Eric relented.

Eddie stepped back. He took a sharp intake of breath. They might not even speak his true name but it was enough for him. After all, they both knew what they were talking about. Tony Stark was a name buried deep under the ground and it was not easy to retrieve that name back to the living.

The confirmation felt like a slap in the face. His whole life he believed in was a sham. They robbed him with his true identity he deserved to have. Why would they do that? He felt like a fool they easily played with.

 “Please,” Eric was pleading. “I know you’re angry, you have every right to be, but please come with me. Fury will literally be going to kill me if I let you out of reach. If not him, his goons will. We will explain everything to you once we were in the new safe house. And people can’t see you just yet.” The last part was a faint whisper.

“Why should I believe you when you lied to me all this time?”

“Because we did our damn best to resurrect you back to life.” Eric hissed again. “You think we lied to you because we were evil? No, we did that to protect you. There were a lot of things you don’t know about yet and you’ll never know and understand what’s happening if you don’t come with me.”

"I have my own family!" Eddie continued to hiss.

"You'll meet them soon enough. But you have to come with me first. Please."

Eddie stared at Eric gauging the sincerity that Eric was showing.

 Eddie readjusted his cap because people kept looking in their direction. He fished out something from his jeans’ pocket. He slapped it on Eric’s chest. Eric caught it. It was the van’s keys.

“Obviously, you know where the safe house is, I’m not going to drive. My head’s still throbbing.” Eddie started to walk away not even waiting for Eric’s reply.

“Are you okay?” Eric jogged towards him.

“No, I am not. It’s taking all my willpower not to punch you with my prosthesis. How did you find me?”

“We turned on the tracker on your wristwatch the moment we found out that you’re gone from the van.”

“I am going to break your jaw someday, Fury’s jaw, Coulson’s jaw and everyone’s jaw except for Cecil’s. She’s an exception. ”

That made Eric smiled a bit. “We deserved that. Cecil was always complaining about an upset stomach because she felt so bad about constantly lying to you. We all did but we had no choice but to do it. Speaking of Cecil, she was waiting by the van so we should hurry. She must be worried about you.”

Eddie didn’t find it hard to believe the last statement. Upon reaching the van, he had fainted in Cecil’s arms.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!

**Author's Note:**

> How are you guys doing? I'm still not fine at all.


End file.
